I think all the buzz is mostly about the 2012 recruiting class. Defense is unproven and they have a lot of offensive players back but in a new system, so I guess we'll see.

I see Wisconsin getting into the top 5, OSU will slip a bit, PSU will drop out of the top 25 and MSU will be the sleeper team out of the B10.

_________________"When you eat crow, if you put barbecue on it, it's not so bad."-Brady Hoke

August 5th, 2011, 9:57 am

steensn

RIP Killer

Joined: June 26th, 2006, 1:03 pmPosts: 13429

Re: 2011 Season Rankings

OSU will move up, of course I'm biased. The only piece that took us from top 5 to top 20 was Pryor who we were going to have for 5 games anyways. These ratings are heavily biased to the trouble OSU was having, not the team entering the field on Saturdays.

But the polls take into account more than just the team... I'm ready for OSU to prove it.

Goo Oklahoma State! Got a great team this year...As always we'll go as far as our offense takes us. We have a little bit more consistency under Weeden opposed to Robinson, but as always our defense is not the greatest. It is probably one of the more talented defenses we've had in awhile.

_________________"When you eat crow, if you put barbecue on it, it's not so bad."-Brady Hoke

August 30th, 2011, 1:11 pm

Wayne Fontes

Color Commentator - John Madden

Joined: January 19th, 2007, 3:21 amPosts: 1919Location: A2

Re: 2011 Season Rankings

I've got to say this about the 2011 season. I am, for the first time in a long time, not at all excited for the start of college football. NFL, yes. College, no. Last night did nothing for me. There is such a disparity between the haves and the have not's in the NCAA that the cupcake games are such a waste of time. Sure, there will be your App State's or your CMU's or James Madison's, but last night was like watching fat kids burn ants with a magnifying glass. UNLV had no reason to be on the field with Wisconsin. Memphis and Mississippi St? Give me a break.

The level of competition will undoubtedly raise and make future games be much more exciting to watch, but there is still a part of me that couldn't care less. With all the recent scandals of USC, AUB, ORE, UNC, U of M, OSU, Miami... I have a hard time wanting to watch these teams compete. There is no longer the air of amateurism that made it refreshing to watch college football. Now, the stakes have never been higher, the top athletes never have had a higher profile, and they have basically turned into college versions of the dreaded "Diva" in the NFL.

Maybe 3 years of Rich Rodriguez's country rectum took its toll on me. Maybe Jim Tressell being exposed as a fraud has changed my views of what a man of integrity really is. Donations to churches and talent scouts and rental cars and big time donors don't mean the same as they used to. Everything has changed and there is no going back to what we all remember falling in love with on fall Saturday afternoons. Could it be that I was just naive until now? Or has there been a paradigm shift in America's past time that has been for the worse in the last 10 years or so that has made college football into a cash cow that is being milked by universities without any regard to its historically pure intentions.

All I know is that I'm more excited for the Lions then I have been in a long time, and I'm surely more excited for the start of the NFL season then for College. I don't know if there's a way to get me back, or if I even want to go back to college football.

_________________Forward down the field!

September 2nd, 2011, 10:46 am

hamma77

Heisman Winner

Joined: December 8th, 2008, 3:16 pmPosts: 785

Re: 2011 Season Rankings

College has always been way off NFL for me. I have a strong passion for Oklahoma State college sports just like I do with the Lions, but it's just not the same. Like you said the 60-0 beatings just are not fun to watch. Blame the NCAA though, if you lose one game your pretty much out of the chance of a title. No reason to schedule tough games if you don't have too. Until some kind of playoff system is added there is no benefits and huge huge disadvantages from scheduling tough opponents.

September 2nd, 2011, 11:21 am

steensn

RIP Killer

Joined: June 26th, 2006, 1:03 pmPosts: 13429

Re: 2011 Season Rankings

College is not pro, there are going to be haves and have nots. There are too many teams, everyone wants to play in the "big leagues" to get a chance to steal some cash from TV. Everyone wins, small schools get larger chunks of money than they would never make had they played someone else. It gives the bigger schools a little preseason action.